Have You Read This? The Thief of Always

Kids everywhere are going back to school, and it’s a good chance that a few of those kids, depending on their locations and/or their imaginations, will be bored. Bored children will often have their minds wander, and in their wanderings may stumble onto places that appear bright and lovely but with a rotten core. Such is the case of Clive Barker’s foray into children’s literature, The Thief of Always, a book that seems to be everywhere but in actual libraries.

I’ve been to other libraries, and it seems like The Thief of Always gets no love, or at least no place on these library shelves. Frankly, the decision mystifies me. Neil Gaiman’s Coraline can be found in most libraries and was even a stop-motion movie. It is also very similar to the plot of The Thief of Always: child dissatisfied with the real world finds a totally different world that appears to cater to their desires until that world’s dark underbelly is discovered. To clarify, I’m not trying to disparage Coraline, a sweet adventure where a child comes to learns what family truly means to her, but it does seem suspicious that Thief doesn’t get the same accolades. Perhaps it is the fact that Thief was written by the same guy who gave us demonic entities into BDSM and really extreme piercing. I can imagine parents balking when having to explain to their young children why monsters are wearing similar leather and spikes outfits mommy and daddy have hanging in their bedroom closet.

But The Thief of Always is a beautifully written magical story that draws the reader into a fantasy world that rivals Coraline’s. Thief presents the trope we’ve seen in everything from Hansel and Gretel to Pinocchio to yes, Coraline, that age-old trope of being wary of something that’s literally too good to be true.  Bored stiff Harvey Swick is brought to Holiday House where he can enjoy all the seasons in a day, from lazy summer days to Christmas presents every night. Of course, Harvey Swick soon suspects there is something wrong with Holiday House. The tale then showcases a coming-of-age theme as young Harvey tries to take back what Mr. Hood, the mysterious proprietor of Holiday House, has stolen from him.

Yes, thematically and plot-wise, Coraline and Thief of Always are very similar to each other, but there are so many movies and books where kids get taken from the mundane into the magical, from Narnia to Harry Potter. But what makes Thief stand out, in particular, is that Harvey does indeed escape the horrors yet still voluntarily goes back. Granted, life had literally gone on without him, which necessitated his return, but Harvey could just have easily counted his blessings and simply stayed very clear of Mr. Hood until he died an old man. However, he goes back into the darkness, back behind the shadowy curtain, to both confront Mr. Hood and beat him at his own game. Many horror stories have the protagonist confront the monster and escape its clutches, leaving the protagonist to deal with the monster still being out there, merely biding its time, perhaps. There’s also horror where the protagonist returns to vanquish that monster, to prevent the evil from harming anyone else. Harvey Swick’s decision not to merely accept what his life had become after his escape but return to that monster and demand it gives back what he stole is what truly defines him as a hero instead of a mere protagonist.